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Welcome ! | Home · FAQ · Topics · Web Links · Your Account · Submit Poetry · Top 30 · OldSite Link | 10-June 21:52:17 AEST | ||
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Array
(
[sid] => 108909
[catid] => 1
[aid] => mick
[title] => The Great Expanse
[time] => 2005-11-02 03:02:02
[hometext] => if you would like to know what happens after you shuffle off this mortal coil, dear reader, then just dive in..........
[bodytext] => There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath. Herman Melville (sailor, author, cetaceaphile) (Keep looking - you will see them) The seas are quiet and restful, No boats upon the shores The nets are hung and drying, with The boat sheds stacked with oars Today there’s no collecting, No wondering of the catch How many will be pulled aboard And crammed into the hatch But Lo! another disaster, Or accidents mundane Or lives whose shining embers Have finally come to wane Or soldiers and civilians, Consumed by endless wars They join the other millions Of senseless, violent cause Now the boats are in the harbour, Calling for their crew All of those who labour Know just what they have to do The seines are at the ready, The gear all stowed away The measure will be heady, and Strain the nets today. Now the boats are weighing anchor With so many hands on board, Casting lines and farewells As they finally sail abroad They head towards the Great Expanse, Where scores of souls now roam Tonight the boats will haul them in, And bring their bounty home. Author’s note:The word "soul" in Old English sawol, possible etymological links with the old German word 'se(u)la', what means belonging to the sea (ancient Germanic conceptions involved the souls of the unborn and of the dead "living" as part of a medium similar to water).The concept of a guide/s for those souls from the land of the living to the land of the dead (or heaven/Hell) is also an iconic element of afterlife mythology, and just happen to be fishermen in this metaphor - perhaps you or I someday, after we have been, in turn drawn from the sea. I wrote the poem as a blending of the two beliefs, but I found the explanation later - the Poetry Muse is a beguiling spirit. [comments] => 3 [counter] => 294 [topic] => 62 [informant] => spike [notes] => [ihome] => 0 [alanguage] => english [acomm] => 0 [haspoll] => 0 [pollID] => 0 [score] => 55 [ratings] => 11 [editpoem] => 1 [associated] => [topicname] => spiritual )
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